


Artistic torturer

by xyzan21



Series: Is this the best you can do? [2]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: BAMF Merlin (Merlin), Lancelot (Merlin) Lives, Merlin is So Done (Merlin), Merlin is a Little Shit, Sassy Merlin (Merlin), Scars, Torture, acrobatic!Merlin, but mild, not very extreme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:08:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25168978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xyzan21/pseuds/xyzan21
Summary: Merlin and the others are being held captive and the kidnapers decided to torture Merlin for information. Merlin is having none of it.(You don't need to read the first part of the series for it to make sense.)
Relationships: Knights of the Round Table & Merlin (Merlin)
Series: Is this the best you can do? [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1823323
Comments: 42
Kudos: 576





	Artistic torturer

**Author's Note:**

> So this took much longer to write than expected. I hope you enjoy it though.

Merlin was currently hanging from the ceiling of a dark, dripping dungeon by his wrists. His feet were barely brushing the floor. His shoulders were going to hurt like hell after this. Suffice it to say, he wasn’t in the best of moods.

The Knights of the Round Table and Arthur were also being held in the dungeon. No surprise there.

Merlin didn’t really remember how they got here, he only remembered telling them that he didn’t have a good feeling and then _bam_ he woke up chained to a ceiling.

Weren’t Wednesdays great. Wait was it still Wednesday? He had promised Gaius he would collect some herbs for him on Friday. He hoped he wouldn’t miss that. He hated breaking his promises.

He scrutinized his friends. They looked unharmed for the most part. Just covered in an array of scratches and bruises but that wasn’t uncommon. They were Knights after all.

They, unlike him, did not have the _privilege_ of hanging from the ceiling. Their hands were chained to the wall behind their backs.

Well this was just unfair.

Before anyone could say anything, they heard footsteps from the other side of the door. Two men entered their cell. The one in front was smartly dressed and didn’t look like he belonged in a prison cell. The other man, scruffier in appearance, was standing slightly father back, probably a servant from the way he was acting.

“Hello, and welcome! I do hope you are enjoying your time so far,” the first man addressed them enthusiastically. “Of course, we won’t let the King and his honoured Knights rot down here without something to entertain you. I pride myself in being a great host. Not to worry, not to worry, the entertainment will arrive shortly.”

Merlin had a feeling he wasn’t going to enjoy this so-called entertainment much.

While the man prattled on about, Merlin didn’t know what exactly, he had tuned him out after the first few sentences, the Knights exchanged wary glances. 

After they had endured a few minutes of his never ceasing boasting, the door swung open again and a big surly man entered. The room suddenly became very cramped what with five Knights, a King, a manservant and three captors.

“Ah here he is. The man that will provide part of your entertainment. I hope you enjoy the show.” And with that he swept out of the room, the scruffy looking man on his heals.

The surly man was pulling a worktable in the room with him. It was of course filled with various torture instruments. He picked up a knife and turned to look at Merlin. The light reflecting off his eyes and the knife ominously.

About an hour later the man had not accomplished much. The Knights and King had been gagged after the uproar they caused when the man first connected the metal with Merlin’s skin.

Merlin wasn’t in much pain, in fact he barely noticed when the man carved into the skin of his arms and chest.

“Are you sure you weren’t actually supposed to be an artist? I think you chose the wrong profession,” Merlin quipped looking at the extravagant swirls and flourishes now decorating his arms.

The man just grumbled in response already tired of Merlin’s comments. He picked up a smooth metal rod with a small ball at the end of it.

“Hm. That one’s new. What is that? No one’s ever tortured me with that thing,” Merlin said. He had never seen that instrument before and he had quite a lot of experience with being tortured.

The man gave him a menacing grin. “It’s something special. A new design that the man you met earlier came up with. Don’t worry, it will hurt. You’re not the first person it was tested on.”

Then he touched the metal ball to Merlin’s skin and it sizzled. It was scalding hot even though it didn’t appear that way to the naked eye.

Merlin only hummed in interest. Definitely magic then. 

The man moved the rod around and actually Merlin wasn’t really to mad about it. The man really was an artist at heart. He was adding the marks in such a way that, when the wounds healed, it would look like he had budding vines covering his arms. He would rather not be tortured but if he was going to have more scars, now they at least looked pretty. 

They continued this way for a while, the man pocking him with the metal rod and Merlin making comments about anything at all. He needed to break the man, needed to get him to the stage in which Merlin could practically control what the man did because he let his emotions rule.

When the man’s stomach rumbled, he put down the instrument and went to walk out the door.

“Enjoy your meal!” Merlin called after him in a perfect imitation of cheerfulness. The man just snarled in answer.

“Well wasn’t that just delightful,” Merlin said to the others who just looked at him. Then they started to frantically move around, trying to get free.

“Would you stop that?” Merlin chastised. “I have a plan. Besides, I don’t have the information we need yet. I need to work on him for a while longer.”

Most of the Knights looked at him like he’d completely lost his mind. Only Lancelot immediately did as he was asked and gave him a small nod.

They waited for about half an hour before the man returned. He went straight to his worktable. While the man rummaged around two thin metal rods became visible. Merlin wasn’t sure why they were there but he was grateful for them. They would come in handy later. 

The man pulled out a whip and went to stand behind Merlin. He went to work with more fervour than before. Must have been a good meal.

After a few lashes Merlin piped up again. “Oh please, my pain tolerance is through the roof. This feels like a gentle caress. Is this the worst you can do?” 

It was true, he barely felt anything. He wasn’t sure if it was a good thing that he was so used to being tortured that he didn’t even feel it anymore. Eh, better not to dwell on it.

He waited a few more minutes before commenting again. “What the hell is this shit? Have you ever tortured anybody? Cause you are doing an abysmal job at it.”

Enraged the man brought the whip down harder and faster.

Good, Merlin was getting to him.

Merlin couldn’t suppress the small satisfied smile that crossed his face.

“So, are we the only guests here or are any other people enjoying your hospitality?” Merlin asked.

He had found that while people tortured him, trying to get information out of him, their tongues got rather loose. He could get nearly anything he wanted out of them using a mixture of sarcasm, taunting and letting them believe he was a simple-minded fool trying to by himself some time between the sessions. It came in handy most of the time. Knowing how many guards or patrols there were. Or finding out what their endgame was.

“Do you honestly believe that you are the sole reason we set this place up?” the man snorted. “You may have forgotten this because you travel around with the King and his Knights but not everything revolves around them. We have much bigger plans. Finding you was simply an added bonus.”

“Yeah? And what’s so important that the King is only a bonus and not the main attraction?”

Merlin was pretty sure he shouldn’t be enjoying this as much as he was.

The man harrumphed and didn’t answer at first but after a lot of needling from Merlin and a few more lashes the man answered. “We hold a great collection of special kids here in this fortress.”

Ah interesting. They were in a fortress. That was good to know. And the part about ‘special kids’, Merlin could guess what he meant. Though he doubted the others did. He meant children with magic. Ones they no doubt kidnapped from their homes and made slaves.

Over the next few minutes Merlin learned the exact location of the other captors, how many people were guarding them and got a pretty good layout of the place. All while being whipped of course but he hardly even felt that.

Then the man seemed to get even more fed up and went to return the whip. He was jabbering about some type of fluid he was about to put on the wounds to make them burn.

Right, this was just getting ridiculous now. When the torturer’s back was to him, Merlin wrapped the chains around his wrists and hands again. Once he got enough grip, he pulled himself up and wrapped his legs around the man’s throat and squeezed.

The man started choking but the sound was muffled by Merlin’s legs. He was struggling quite a lot but Merlin didn’t let go. He really wasn’t in the mood for getting tortured for the third time that day. If he didn’t want permanent damage to his nerve endings, he should probably intervene.

When he felt the man go slack, he unwrapped his legs and let the body fall.

Merlin started swaying, using the momentum to swing over to the worktable and grab the thin metal rods with his feet.

He tensed his arms and stomach and pulled his legs up towards himself. It was a little painful considering his injuries but he didn’t let that stop him. He pushed his legs up until he was upside down. Normally he would just grab the rods and pick the lock with his hands. Unfortunately, his hands were chained too far apart for him to do that.

It seemed that he would have to pick the lock with his feet. While being upside down. After he had been tortured, badly, for quite some time.

How was his day going so far? Oh, it was just great. Honestly, why didn’t they do this every other day.

Well, there was nothing for it. He needed to get himself and the others out of here and he couldn’t use his magic to do something as obvious as unlocking his or their chains.

He let out a little grunt. This fucking hurt. And as an added bonus, the blood was rushing to his face. Not just the blood inside his body but also all the blood that he was coated in because of his injuries. He hoped nothing would get in his eyes.

Just when he felt his strength starting to give out, he heard the wonderful sound of the lock clicking open. He slowly lowered himself back into an upright position and used his now freed hand to pick the lock on the other chain. Which took way less time now that he was upright and could use his hand.

He was about to move to unlock the others when he heard the sounds of footsteps. They were to close for him to be able to arm himself and find a good place for a surprise attack so he would have to come up with something else.

“Someone’s coming,” he said quietly to the others. They all looked extremely stunned. He supposed he couldn’t blame them. If he were them, he wouldn’t have expected himself to be able to do any of that either.

He went back and grabbed the chains he had just freed himself from and carefully wrapped them around his wrists to make it look as if he was still bound. Then he looked down and saw the clearly _very dead_ face of the man he had chocked. Ah, that wouldn’t do. He nudged the man until he was lying face down. Now it looked like he had only fainted. 

A moment later the sound of keys jangling and the clicking of the lock filled the room. The two men from before entered, taking in the scene. The prisoners were all still chained but their torturer was lying face down on the ground.

“Oh, don’t mind him. He was feeling a little faint. This is his first time on the job, isn’t it? I don’t think he expected there to be quite so much blood. It’s not the first time this has happened to me while being tortured. Normally they get up after about fifteen minutes,” Merlin said conspiratorially.

The two men looked a little uncertain but just shrugged.

Merlin scrutinised them. Yes, this could work. He saw the resentment the scruffier looking man felt towards the smartly dressed leader.

He tilted his head back, when he was certain his eyes were out of sight of the men currently occupying the cell, he let his eyes flash golden. The spell would make his words harder to resist, make them seem more reasonable. It could only work though, if the person he was speaking to already wanted to do whatever he was suggesting. Otherwise the spell would be practically useless.

He lifted his head back up and smiled. “Hey, you there, in the back. I don’t think I caught your name.”

The man looked a little startled at being addressed. He pointed to himself as if he wanted to make sure Merlin really meant him.

Merlin sent a radiant grin his way and gave a little snort of amusement. He wasn’t particularly in the mood for playing a happy-go-lucky fool but whatever. They needed to get out of here. This role always served him well. He would be able to put that mask on anytime.

“Oh, um, my name is Tom.” His voice was kind of low and scratchy.

“Hi, Tom. Say, don’t you just resent all of these so-called leaders? They always seem to forget that we are human too. They boss us around and treat us like slaves. They have no decency and expect everything to be done just as soon as we order it. And if we don’t live up to their extremely high expectations, they punish us for things we can’t help.”

It seemed to be working. There was a spiteful gleam in his eyes and he was eyeing his master with distaste.

“Doesn’t it make you wish you could fight back? Just once? Give them a piece of your mind? Treat them like they treated you? Hurt them like they hurt you? Like you were worth nothing? Just a speck of dust on their clothing, a minor annoying inconvenience. It would only be right, wouldn’t it? A fair exchange. An eye for an eye, really. Nothing more. It’s what they deserve after all. These self-proclaimed leaders of men. These supposedly righteous people who somehow manage to make everything worse. They promise so much but do they ever actually make good on what they vowed to do? They preach one thing and then turn around and do the opposite. What did he tell you to make you follow him? Did he even give you a choice or did he take you like he took those children upstairs?”

The look on Tom’s face was murderous. He looked at the man whom he was serving with hatred. The man who had gone deathly pale during Merlin’s little speech. He was looking at his servant warily, holding his hands out to him placatingly.

“Now Tom, you know all I have done to you was for your own good. You know that. I would never do anything that would put you in jeopardy. Remember everything we do, will lead to a better future for us in the long run.”

Merlin tsked: “See there he goes again, claiming you deserved it, that all your suffering is just a small inconvenient side effect of building a future. But will that future really be better for you? He doesn’t seem like the kind of man to give you any recognition for all of your hard work.”

Tom continued to glare. Merlin knew that it wouldn’t take much more before he lashed out.

“He certainly doesn’t deserve someone as loyal as you. He has made that very clear. And after everything, does such a scumbag even deserve to live? After all he’s done to you? After what he’s done to all those other prisoners? How many people have you seen die because of him? How many tortured? How many innocent lives have been lost to his _greed_? How many people has he made you kill? What do you think, Tom? Does he deserve to live?”

Tom lunged forward a knife clutched in his hand. “No,” he growled. “He deserves to die.” And with that he stabbed the knife into his master’s heart. Collectively, they watched the life drain out of the man’s eyes.

Tom blinked and stared down at the man. All the blood drained from his face. Seemingly horrified at what he had just done, Tom grabbed a different knife from the worktable and slit his throat. Well, that was unfortunate. On the other hand, now Merlin didn’t have to find a way to incapacitate him.

Merlin let go of the chains, rolled his shoulders, walked over to the dead body of the leader, plucked the keys from his belt and went to unlock the others chains. Once their hands were free, they tore at their gags.

“Are you ok?!” was the first thing the others demanded as soon as they could talk again.

“Yeah, I’m dandy.” The others either glared at him or gave him sceptical looks. “Honestly, I’ve had much worse injuries. Do you even know how often I’m tortured? This was actually quite tame.”

“How did you get him to stab his leader? How did you even know he would do anything like that?” Elyan asked after the silence had gone on for too long.

Merlin shrugged: “It wasn’t that hard. He was thinking about it anyway. Tom really didn’t like him. You could see it in the way he looked at him and his body language. He only needed a little incentive. And I mainly just repeated things people have said to me over the years in hopes of turning me against Arthur. I guess it was a little more affective on him. Personally, I always thought what they were saying was bullshit but you know some have it much worse than me when it comes to who they work for.”

Merlin got up from his crouch, before anyone could point out that he had just complimented Arthur and made his way over to the worktable and looked at the assorted items. “Until we find your swords, take something from here with which you can defend yourself. You heard my dear friend, there are at least thirty men here.”

When the others didn’t immediately come forward Merlin looked over his shoulder to see all of them looking rather uncomfortable. He rolled his eyes. “Oh, get over yourselves. You’ve never been squeamish when it comes to blood. Now is not the time to start. Pick up a weapon and let’s get out of here.”

“Yeah but this is different,” Gwaine complained. “It’s never been your blood on the weapons we’re using.”

Merlin took a deep, calming (well it was supposed to be, it didn’t really work) breath. He looked back at the worktable. There was an assortment of knives, many of which weren’t actually covered in his blood. He handed each of the Knights and Arthur one or two, then picked some of the bloodied ones up himself.

He also found an axe which he shoved at Percival, a hammer he passed to Elyan and a mace which he gave to Arthur, grinning at the memory that brought up. He eyed the whip for a moment before he picked that up as well and slung it over his shoulder.

“Ok let’s go.” He took a step towards the door and stopped. He looked towards the others. “Has someone seen my shoes?”

The others just shrugged and shook their heads no. Merlin sighed; he had liked those shoes. He hoped they found them.

He led the others out of the cell. Once they were all outside, he hesitated and turned back to look into the room. He let his eyes flash knowing the others wouldn’t see. A triskelion appeared on the floor and walls of the cell.

The triskelion was not the normal three spirals. That, he found, should stay as a symbol only used by the druids.

The triskelion in the middle resembled the outline of tulip leaves more than actual spirals in his design but the symbol was still recognisable. Interwoven into the triskelion was the tail of a dragon which rose above the symbol. The body of the dragon was thin, the head was shown from the side and had three spikes protruding from it. The tops of its wings were curved inward slightly and had spirals. The tip of the wings ended just about where the bottom of the triskelion stopped.

He had started leaving that symbol when he did things that were particularly Emrys-y. He let the rumours spread. The symbol of Emrys showed up everywhere there was a great escape of magical creatures or people. Where some great injustice had been righted. Where something monumental happened. Where Camelot’s King and or Knights, once again escaped and unescapable situation.

Once that was done, he went back to the front of the group. He was pretty sure he knew his way around here. Nearly all the bad guys fortresses had the same layout. It was ridiculous but practical for him.

He could feel the others eyes on him. His shirt was in tatters but at least it still covered most of his larger and more obscure scars like the serket sting or Nimueh’s mark, which he was extremely thankful for. He really didn’t want to explain where he got those from. 

He stretched out his senses and felt for Excalibur. A handy trick he had learnt. It took a moment but then he located the sword. Merlin started walking towards the location of Excalibur, with any luck their other weapons and belongings would be in the same place as well. If not, well he would still be able to locate them but it would be harder to explain why he chose to enter a few specific rooms instead of a large variety of random ones. With one room he could at least make a somewhat believable excuse.

“Merlin, where are you going?” Arthur demanded. 

Merlin turned to look over his shoulder and rolled his eyes at him: “To retrieve our weapons and other belongings, of course. In case you think I’m leaving that armour or sword of yours behind, think again. Do you know how much work I put into their upkeeping? Like hell I’m leaving without them.”

“And how pray tell do you know where you’re going, Merlin?”

“Honestly Arthur, stop asking such stupid questions. In case you hadn’t noticed, most of these fortresses have the same layout. And once you’ve been in as many of these as I have you know your way around.”

“How many of these have you been in?” Gwaine asked.

“Oh, I lost count a long time ago. Somewhere over twenty though.”

The group fell silent. Had he managed to surprise them again? Wow they really thought he lived a sheltered and protected life. That was hilarious.

Once they neared the location of Excalibur Merlin raised a hand, the others stopped. He peeked around the corner. No one was there. Merlin felt slightly insulted that they hadn’t even bothered to put a guard in front of the room. These guys really were full of themselves.

He strode towards the room and tried the door handle. The door opened. Seriously, they hadn’t even bothered to lock the door?! Forget slightly, Merlin was incredibly insulted. Pompous pricks the lot of them.

Merlin turned to the others. “Come on then get your stuff. We need to get a move on.”

The others shuffled into view and entered the room, where lo and behold, all of their belongings were. Well except for Merlin’s shoes which really wasn’t fair. Merlin collected his knives and daggers from a table and turned to the others.

“Alright, does everybody have everything they need?”

The others nodded and made noises of assent.

“Right, let’s go and fight then.” He wasn’t sure when he had become the person to give the orders but none of the others complained or really seemed to think anything was wrong with the King’s manservant giving them orders and not oh the King himself. His friends were weird. 

While they went in search for their captors Merlin extended his senses. He reached for every guard and soldier inside the fortress and brushed up against their minds, searching for anyone who could be swayed, who didn’t believe in what they were tasked to do. He found only one. Right then the others would die, only that one boy would be allowed to survive.

He sent a spell towards the boy. He would not be harmed by either party but he wouldn’t be able to attack any of the people Merlin wanted to keep safe either. 

The fight was bloody and brutal and relatively short. Their captors were relatively good at fighting but they didn’t stand a chance against the Knights of Camelot. Merlin was also doing his fair share of damage. Most of it with the knives and the whip he had procured because it was a little difficult to use his magic while surrounded by his friends but he could hold his own easily, even with only normal weapons at his disposal.

When it was clear that they had won and only five of the enemy soldiers remained, all of which were about to die shortly due to the fact that they were engaged in battle with angry Knights of Camelot, Merlin sent the only survivor a mental message. He had learnt how to do that even with people who weren’t magical, another handy trick. He made sure to disguise his voice though.

“Swear your allegiance to the Once and Future King and you shall be spared,” he sent.

The boy looked around nervously, trying to find the person who was talking in his mind. “I swear my allegiance to the Once and Future King,” the boy thought. Merlin felt the magic take hold. The boy would never again be able to harm Arthur or Camelot.

“Run away from this place as fast as you can,” he answered. “And make sure to tell every person you meet the story of this place. Tell them that Arthur Pendragon is the Once and Future King and that he is under the protection of Emrys. If anybody dares to touch the King in a way that could harm him, there will be hell to pay for them. Emrys will come for them. They better run and never look back.”

The boy nodded to no one in particular and ran off.

The last of the enemy soldiers fell and the others stood around panting for a moment before Merlin began walking again.

“Merlin,” Arthur called out. “Where are you going? The exit is this way.” He pointed in the opposite direction of the way Merlin was currently headed.

“Yeah and those children these guys held prisoner are this way. And we are going to rescue them so get a move on. Plus, there is another exit in this direction so come on, let’s go.”

Arthur grumbled something about getting orders from a servant (oh so now he noticed?) but he and the others followed him nonetheless.

They wondered through the fortress for a while, Merlin guiding them as he followed the presence he felt. When they got nearer Merlin cast his thoughts ahead. He didn’t want to startle the poor children by suddenly bursting threw the door with no warning. He also didn’t want them to use their magic to defend themselves, then it would be much harder to convince the others to help free them.

‘Hello,’ he thought. ‘My name is Emrys, though the others in my company know me under a different name. I and some friends of mine are coming to free you. Please don’t be afraid. No harm will come to you, I promise. But please don’t use any magic, they are good people but most of them are a little wary of magic. Can you pretend you don’t have any for a while?’

In response his mind was flooded with the feeling of relief, many yeses and promises to stay discreet and a large amount of excited exclamations of ‘Emrys?!’.

They came to a stop in front of a large waterfall that acted as a wall. It was definitely magical.

Merlin threw the whip to the side and looked to the others. “Get rid of the weapons that don’t belong to you or at least the hammer, axe and mace. The Knives are ok I guess just keep them hidden.”

“They are perfectly good weapons, Merlin why would we get rid of them?” Arthur asked. Of course it was him. Merlin rolled his eyes yet again.

“Well you see, _Sire_ , we are about to enter a room full of _children_ who have been _abducted_ from their homes and made _slaves_ by a group of men with large scary weapons. And forgive me but I don’t think entering the room covered in blood and holding large scary weapons while also being men is a good way to inspire confidence in them.”

“Ah, you might have a point there, Merlin,” he conceded.

“You think?” Merlin said under his breath.

“Was there anything you wanted to add, _Mer_ lin?” Arthur challenged.

“Of course not, Sire.”

“Hm.”

The others proceeded to get rid of the most menacing weapons, apart from their swords obviously, which they sheaved and then looked to Merlin for further instruction. Really, this again? Sighing Merlin turned away from the others and stepped through the waterfall.

Once he passed through it, he looked down at himself and found that he was not only completely dry but also no longer covered in blood. Yes, his injuries were still bleeding a little but at least he didn’t look quite as terrifying anymore.

The others followed shortly, Lancelot and Gwaine being the first, followed by Arthur, Leon, Percival and Elyan shortly.

It wasn’t hard to discern where they were holding the children. There was only one door. He went to walk forward and stumbled over something. Confused he looked down and found one of his shoes. What the hell? He looked around for the other one but couldn’t find it. Well, he decided while he tugged on his shoe, better one than none. Maybe he could summon his other one when the others weren’t looking or something.

“Let me go in before you guys. I look the least threatening and we really don’t want to scare them more than they already are.” The others nodded after a brief pause.

Before he went to open the door, he sent another quick message to the people inside. ‘Alright, I’m about to open the door, just so you know and don’t freak out.’

He gently pushed the door open after giving them about ten seconds to register what he just said. The first thing he noticed when he opened the door was how tired they all looked. There were fourteen of them, all thin and haggard looking.

They were all huddled together but even so it was clear there were certain groups. They all gravitated to a girl with red hair who looked to be the oldest. She was clearly the leader of them, the protector. There were eight girls and six boys in total.

Merlin slowly made his way over to them and crouched down when he was close to them. He left some room between them, he didn’t want them to feel like he was cornering them.

“Hello,” he began softly. They recognised his voice and relaxed a little. “I’m Merlin. We’ve come to help. My friends are waiting outside until you are ready to go. They look a little scary because they’re quite big but they all have kind hearts. There are six of them. And they have some swords and knives with them but they won’t use them against you, I promise. Would you let us help you out of here? We could return you to your homes or bring you somewhere else if you don’t want to return there.”

‘I could bring you to some druids,’ he added in his mind.

The girl with the red hair spoke up: “That would be very kind of you. Thank you.”

Merlin sent her a soft smile: “What’s your name?”

“Ava. I’m fifteen.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Ava.”

He reverted back to mind speech: ‘Can you tell me which one of you has the best and worst control over their magic? It would make it easier to know which one of my friends to pair you up with. Some are more accepting of magic and will be willing to ignore it if you accidently use it.’

Ava nodded. She pointed to a girl and a boy who were huddled together. “Those are Natalie and Noah. They are twins. We think they are about six but they aren’t really that sure themselves.” In mind speech she added: ‘They are the most likely to lose control.’

Merlin nodded his understanding.

“That,” Ava pointed to a dark-haired girl, “is Riley. She’s seven–”

“And a half!” Riley interrupted.

“Right,” Ava said with a slight eye roll. “How could I forget. Seven and a half. And the boy in between Riley and Noah is Jacob. And he is eight.” Again, she added silently: ‘Those two are better than the twins but still not great when they are scared.’

She continued in that fashion pointing out who had the best control in mind speech and giving names and ages out loud for the sake of carrying a conversation Merlin’s friends could hear. She also explained which of the children couldn’t be separated from each other without causing immense distress.

Once she had finished Merlin spoke up: “Would it be alright with you guys if I bring them in one by one so I can introduce them to you and tell them which one of them will be escorting you outside?”

Ava waited until each of them had nodded before giving her ok. Merlin stood up and made his way back to the door. He stuck his head out and gestured for Lancelot to come in first.

“This,” he pointed to his friend, “is Lancelot. Riley and Jacob, would you be ok with him bringing you outside?” The two of them appraised him and then nodded.

Merlin did the same with the others, he assigned the twins to Gwaine. The nine-year-old boy Liam and the ten-year-old girl Olivia, who had sprained her ankle to Percival. The two eleven-year-old boys Logan and Mason to Elyan. They came from the same village and were one of the pairs who couldn’t be separated. The twelve-year-old girl Grace, who had short spiky blond hair and the thirteen-year-old boy Ethan to Leon. And Ava and a fourteen-year-old girl Isabella to Arthur. Ava and Isabella had the best control over their magic.

Merlin himself took care of two girls, one was twelve and was called Bella, she was extremely bubbly. The other was eleven and very quiet, her name was Claire. They were best friends and seemed to balance each other out perfectly.

They made their way out of the fortress. Most of the Knights simply walked next to their charges or held their hands, if the kid offered. Only Lancelot and Gwaine carried both of theirs, due to their age they wouldn’t be able to walk as fast. And Percival had Olivia on his back because of her ankle.

They didn’t go out the way they had come, Merlin personally didn’t want their charges to see all those dead bodies and the blood. The others seemed to agree with him.

Outside everything was peaceful. They were surrounded by woods and birds were chirping happily in the treetops above them.

They walked around for a little bit before they stumbled upon a stream. Lancelot, Merlin and Ava helped the children to wash the grime off of them as best as they could while the others went out in search of food. Merlin also took care of his wounds and the scrapes the children had attained. Thankfully none of them were seriously injured.

“Did any of you decide yet on where you want to go?” Merlin asked.

As it turned out most of them wanted to go home, apart from Ava and Isabella. Which was mostly because their parents had as good as handed them over to the slavers when they raided their village. Merlin promised to take them to the Druids.

Thankfully all of their homes were relatively close to each other. They had also figured out that they were only about a day’s ride from the nearest village. And thanks to Merlin being able to call back their horses with a mixture of magic and the fact that he had taught them to come when he whistled, they had a way of transport as well.

His other shoe, it turned out was in one of the horses’ saddle bags. He had no idea how it got there but he was thankful for the weird coincidence nevertheless.

The kids mostly flocked around Merlin when they were not currently on the horses riding back in the direction of their homes. A fact that the other Knights found vastly amusing and Merlin found nice. He had spent a lot of time with the children back in Ealdor and even in Camelot he looked after the kids of servants or villagers if he had the time to entertain them.

When they returned the children to their homes they were met with their overjoyed parents and thankful villagers. And Lancelot and Merlin were able to drop Ava and Isabella off at a Druid camp without making the others suspicious.

Merlin counted the experience as a success overall. True, he had been captured and tortured but he didn’t really care about that. It was mostly annoying now. But he had also freed fourteen children, killed a whole bunch of slavers and he had strengthened Arthur’s image by returning the children safely to their homes. And he would even be in time to collect those herbs for Gaius.

**Author's Note:**

> The stuff Merlin does with the chains to free himself basically was inspired by the rings from gymnastics. No idea if any of you understood my descriptions. I hope you did. 
> 
> Here is Merlin’s Version of the triskelion. I hope I described it ok.: https://i.pinimg.com/236x/c9/31/22/c93122480b45769fce4d57709b96469e--celtic-dragon-hena.jpg  
> I didn’t plan this but when I looked up tulips to see what they represented I found out that they commonly mean ‘perfect or deep love’ and they can mean ‘rebirth’ due to the fact that they are one of the first flowers to bloom in the spring. Victorians also often associated them with charity. And I don’t know about you but that seems pretty Merlin to me.


End file.
